Check-in Desks

[Kolibear]

Prompted by the forthcoming BA strike, I was wondering why airlines have dedicated check-in desks?


It seems a bit pointless having long queues checking in on Coconut Airways, when next to them, there are half a dozen unoccupied Banana Airlines desks?


Why can't there be several hundred constantly manned desk where any passenger on any flight can check in? After all, if the airport is run by BAA, why can't they provide a check-in service too?

[TJ747]

Well im not sure if u have ever worked in the airport but if you did...you would understand why.

To have loads of desk check in for any flight any airline would be a disaster in itself.

Firstly...they amount of mistakes that would be made would be astronomical...even when a system has prompts to make sure that the c-in at has the right person and ticket on the right flight...human error will occur and you will end up having people c-in on wrong flts etc.

even with a 3 flight common c-in...ive had groups c-in on the wrong flt which althogh easy to sort out if spotted...can cause problems by delaying the flt while its sorted...bags going missing...ive even had people who are meant to be on a tfs flt end up on a dlm flt as they agt has made a mistake and the pax has not read the boarding card or checked it...some pax dont know where they fly into....like babados, the airport is bridgetown...many pax dont know that and query that when they see it on the screens.

An airline also wants to have there own image displayed at the airport and have a dedicsted c-in...some airlines only pay for 2 desks for a 757...hence the queue's.

Also...if it was a free for all on any desk...when the queue built up....to try and close out a flight on time...would simply not happen...besides...there is not enough space in the terminal and the belt systems would be all over the shot as not enough shutes as it is.

What would happen if you had to go manual c-in...to try and split up the flights...would be a nightmare to sort and organise.

I understand what you were saying and think that if would ever be possible and you had the right facilities...it would be great...but dont think it would ever work in the current state of the airports.

Many thx

tj747

[surely not]

Common check-in of all flights by one airline is already carried out when requested. If you check-in at LGW on Virgin, all their flights check-in on one bank of desks with staff not dedicated to one particular flight.
However to try to mix airlines as well as flights would not work. Many airlines have their own stationary and these are preloaded into the printers and they won't want their stationary being used by other airlines, plus it would confuse a great many of the travelling public if they had a boarding card for a different airline!!

The other points raised by Tj747 are very valid and also contribute to why it cannot be made to work.